Animal Guts
by Skyclaw
Summary: After the war, everyone either came home or got killed. No one took Buttercup with them. He decides to come home alone. He finds out the one person he loved is dead as a doorknob. One-shot.


**A/N: This one-shot came to me while I was attacked by cats. Enjoy.**

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They had left me.

The nerve of them. I hate Katniss. Her name sounds like 'cat'. Her friend calls her Catnip. I'm repulsed. She is nothing like a cat. Cat are wonderous things. I, Buttercup, am a wonderous thing.

Katniss spent the last months in the hospital. She was sick. The docters fed her medicine a lot. Poked tubes inside of her. That is repulsive. I like annoying her, but if she's dead to the world, how can I do it?

One of the few times she was awake was when an alarm sounded. It was annoying. People started to panic and climb downstairs. I didn't bother to, but then, when everyone's already downstairs, Prim and Katniss's friend came to get me.

I like Prim. She's nice. And pretty. She has beautiful blonde hair that looks like it supposed to belong to an angel. She likes me. Not a lot of people like me. They hate me. Laughed at me for my ugly face.

Katniss once said, "Prim, you sure you want to keep this cat? It's nose is all mashed up and ugly."

I don't think I'm ugly. My genes are just messed up. I must've had a really ugly mother and father. Then again, I've never met them. I was the runt of the litter. I got driven away. Prim found me. She is nice.

They took me downstairs where there's a lot of people. I hate crowds. They make me feel uncomfortable. I was napping when I saw something bright on the floor. I decided to catch it. It escaped. I pounced on it and it disapeared. What is this strange creature?

I never caught it. Basically, this is a stupid District. I want to go back home to the Home District. I want to go away from the Stupid Districts. Humans say that there are twelve Districts. I wonder if there is a Cat District? Or a Fish District? I want to go there. Stupid District's underground. Ick. I haven't seen light for the past few months. This sucks.

Once Katniss healed, she was allowed to the Surface. She gets a lot of stares. She seems popular. That is weird. What did she do to take

Katniss went to a hovercraft one day. She never returned to Stupid District. I wonder where she went? Then, Prim went too. Prim's a doctor. Docters are useful things, not like Katniss. All she does is sleep and be sick. I want to be sick. That way, everyone will shower me with gifts, fish and sympathy cards.

I was alone in Stupid District. I stayed there for a day, alone. Then, a week. Then, a month. Where was Prim? I'm alone here with the Mother. One day, the Mother left too. She seemed confused. She kept crying. Did something happen to Katniss? I wish it would. Or is it Prim? I'm scared. The Mother must have forgotten me.

I decided to take matters into my own paws. I left the District. Turns out, Katniss's friend goes to the Surface to shoot at things. I followed him out and was blinded by the sun.

Ouch. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I turned around but they shut the doors. Stupid people.

So my journey started. Cats have a good sense of direction. I followed my instincts and walked home. It wasn't easy. I had to survive rain and sometimes climb hills. I am not the most agile or fit cat.

I hunted mice. It was fun. I liked to hear their squeaks of terror as they realized that any second, they would be breating their last breath. Maybe sooner. They squirm but they never get away. That is how I, Buttercup, hunt.

They were delicious! A bit messy to eat but really crunchy. I understand why Katniss and her friend likes to hunt.

I miss the blonde boy. He sometimes gives us bread. He is nice. Katniss's friend occassionally gives us meat. Katniss feeds me its guts. We have a lot of people giving us food. It is nice.

One time, I was just sleeping under a bush when a fox got into my face. Literally. He woke me up with it's big maw. I was scared so I scratched it. It was mad. I tried to run away but my long fur got entangled with the thorns. It scratched me. It hurt. I bit it. It screamed. It bit me. I screamed. We fought.

I got away. I've got numerous scars now and my furs matting up into clumps and got sticky because of my blood. I am repulsive. I think I almost died. Maybe one of my lives were taken.

Autumn came and went. Winter stayed. I was cold. Colder than cold. I was freezing. Mice hibernated so I couldn't eat them. I wish cats hibernated. They don't.

I arrived home. Finally! Katniss can feed me animal guts and Prim can hug me and Katniss's friend can also feed my animal guts and the blonde boy can give me bread and the Mother can stop Katniss from giving me a shower! Bliss.

I arrived home in the wee hours of spring. Ice in my fur had melted and left me soaking wet. The scars were still on my back. I hope I don't look uglier. I hope I look more tougher.

Fortunately, Home District looks uglier. There are rubble and stones everywhere. Smoke is rising from the stuff. I see a lot of dead bodies among living ones that is still working and living. Yuck. Just the way I remembered it when everyone left me to go to Stupid Districts. I saw the hovercrafts come. I hid in the forest, under a bush. They were destroying stuff. I hope Home District's ugliness will distract them from my ugliness. I might actually look pretty.

I see Katniss on the couch. She is staring at nothing. I don't see Prim. I mew, waiting for Prim to arrive and hug me to death. I reckon I still have five or six left. I won't mind.

Katniss looks at me and her face contorts to anger. It's scary. She must have found out that I came all the way from Stupid District. Nice. I can't wait for her to praise me. Why is she still scowling at me?

"It was a waste of a trip. She's not here," she growls.

Who's not here? Prim? Maybe she's in the market or something. I wait for her to elaborate. She does.

"She's not here! You can hiss all you want, she's not here! You won't find Prim," Her voice rises up to a scream. I am scared. What happened to Prim? Maybe my market theory was right.

"Get out! There's nothing else for you here!"

She starts throwing pillows at me. I dodge them. Please. Shoot me with your arrows if you have the guts. I want animal guts. Why is she throwing stuff at me?

"She's not coming back. She's never ever going to come back. She's dead, you stupid cat. Dead."

She slumps to the floor as she cries. Primrose is dead? The beautiful Primrose? She's dead?

No. No. No. No. This can't be. My owner's dead? As in, gone from the world? Buried in the ground and turned to fertilizer? Zombie-dead? The never, ever going to come back dead? The once-you've-gone-you-can't-in-a-billion-years-go-home? Dead as a doorknob? That dead?

Cats don't cry. I wish I could. All I could do was wail. Wail my annoying wail.

I'm sure Prim would go to heaven. They all do. The ones that are good. When will I meet her again? Do cats go to human heaven? Or do they have a special heaven? I must do good deeds. For Prim.

I start by comforting Katniss. Pace around her. Mourn with her.

I used to hate Katniss. I used to hate her guts. And I really like guts. Now we're on the same boat. We both lost Prim. I have no one else, though. Katniss has that blonde-haired stalker of hers. I only have her, which is less than nice.

For now, I will tolerate that. This lifetime is short and in a blink of an eye, I should find myself with Prim in the clouds.

That blink is long.

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**A/N: Buttercup is a bit philosophical in the end, don't you think? I wrote this because I wanted to have more readers in my other story. It's also in the Hunger Games fandom and is not a SYOT (though I have already completed one). Please check it out. Oh, review this too, please?**


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